It's Hump Day. Birthdays: Alex Haley, Steve Wozniak, Inès de La Fressange, Joe Jackson. What fragrance are you wearing?
I'm doing summer spice in Comptoir Sud Pacifique L'Eau du Gouverneur.
Reminder: 8/13 is Alfred Hitchcock's birthday (and Friday the 13th)...wear whatever seems to fit the theme.
And for those of you who like to plan ahead, see Scent of the day ~ Friday community projects 2021, where I'll try to always have the next five or six weeks mapped out in advance.
Note: top image is reaching [cropped] by Mike McCune at flickr; some rights reserved.
In Bergamote Soleil today for a hot day filled with meetings.
It is nearly too hot even for my sheer spices…good choice!
I’m going to be hitting the citrus scents hard this week!
I put on VC&A Bois d’Iris. Too sweet.
I find it more of an autumn scent. Am wearing Masque Milano L’Attesa, probably my favourite iris.
L’Attesa is a beauty! One of my favorites as well.
L’Attesa is my second favorite after Iris Silver Mist!
Overwhelming hot and humid day. ???
Wearing CK Truth, another great, cheap, no brainer green scent and a favorite in my collection for very hot days. Ready to pull the trigger in a BUB. In the shopping cart already!
Happy Wednesday! ?
Sweet! CK Truth is an easy to wear for hot days. That sounds right up my alley. What’s the staying power like?
In my skin I can easily smell it for 3 hours, then it becomes a very nice skin scent. Sillage is great, soft and not overwhelming at all.
Thank you!
Easy fragrance and a perfume in the cart. I’d say it’s a good day.?♀️
??
Hmmm…sounds right up my alley. Green.
Worth trying and the price doesn’t really hurt.
I went thru 2 bottles of that back in the day! My third one is still with me. CK Truth used to have a fantastic smelling shower gel, but I haven’t seen that in a stone’s age.
I found small shower gels on Ebay, but unfortunately the prices are outrageous.
Morning all, my SOTD is W by Banana Republic, powdery greens, clover, and LOV. I love this one, so refreshing for hot weather. It was a tossup between this and the Classic, another love from them.
I am overjoyed, I discovered an outdoor pool for lap swimming, which I intend to start doing as soon as my schedule permits. My back always feels better and I have more sound sleep when I swim.
About to start reading The Midnight Library. Next on my reading list (and a recommendation by Mr. SmokeyToes) is New Yorkers: A City and it’s People.
Happy Hump day all!
Good for you — I hate swimming laps, but it made me sleep better too.
Two of my favorites! I have BUBs, ?.
Swimming sounds wonderful! Go you!
Hooray for the pool discovery! One of my goals is to take an adult refresher class and start lap swimming. My timeline is by my next birthday, so April.
Please keep mentioning how awesome it is to swim so I can make sure I get my rear in gear!
Do it now you so you can take advantage of an outdoor pool!
My H has recently joined a masters team that swim in Chesapeake Bay, which is pretty amazing.
Good for H! That is amazing!
Years ago, I did masters swim in SF – it kicked my butt! (In the best way…).
It was one of the few times in my life when I had washboard abs… *sigh*
Morning, perfume peeps! I am off to a slow start today. I just had a cup of coffee and am thinking of wearing something green and bright and sharp to get my day going — perhaps Nishane Wulong Cha. I recently returned from a week in Santa Fe, where I attended a workshop on digital collage (which was great, but tiring). I really don’t want to get back into the work groove!
Glad it was great! A week in Santa Fe is lovely in any case — I do miss NM.
Good afternoon!? Digital whaaat?
Digital collage — it’s basically using Photoshop to bring multiple visual elements together into a single, cohesive art work. It was run by one of my absolute favorite artists, Maggie Taylor, so when I saw news of it, I had to go. I roped a couple of friends into taking the road trip with me, and while I spent all day in the computer lab, they doodled around Santa Fe, and then we met up for dinner when we could. All in all, a productive trip, but too much driving, and it highlighted for me just how much I want to be retired.
Oh my goodness, that sounds absolutely amazing on all fronts. I’m so glad you got to go to the workshop and bring your friends with you!
Sounds fascinating!
In La Haie Fleurie today, getting ready to go look at a restoration project construction site among a bunch of cows, and then taking my wee ‘un up to the local peach farm to stock up while we’re in the frenzied height of peach season. The peach pie we made last weekend is already a happy memory, and even though there’s really no room in the freezer I’m planning to freeze some peaches and then ‘forget’ about them until the doldrums of winter, when we can pull them out and make a totally unseasonable, morale-boosting treat.
I finally had a good, juicy peach yesterday. Got this one at the farmers market but also got some bad ones there. Peach pie sounds SO good!
So jealous of both La Haie Fleurie and PEACHES!!
Ditto!
We’re so lucky to have a source for amazing peaches relatively nearby — I spent years and years essentially going without so I feel that justifies spending entirely too much money on them every summer now.
Wow, what a great afternoon! Have fun.
I have some peaches waiting for me to dig in.
Peaches and nectarines have been really good this year…
Local peaches! Maybe I’ll find some at the farmers market tomorrow! Hoping for plums still, too.
You smell lovely, Isabella.
Thank you! There were French prune plums at another of the farmstands we visited this afternoon, but since we raid an abandoned orchard for these each year I held back on buying any. We did wind up with a Charentais melon and four heaping baskets of insanely ripe strawberries on top of our flat of O’Henry peaches, so the menu for this week is looking pretty fruit-forward!
What riches! ???
I had an excellent plum this afternoon. Peaches here have been hit or miss. The good ones were truly delicious, but I’ve had some that were over the hill.
The “Woz”! I had him speak at one of my events – what a mind on that guy!
SOTD: Bottega Veneta
You smell really, really good today.
I agree with LizzieB — you smell great today
Thanks for reminding me that I’ve been neglecting my bottle of BV! It’s lovely, and I’m a bit obsessed with the deeply satisfying ultra-fine-mist sprayer on the bottle.
Oh, that’s a good contender for a 4-season fragrance.
Wearing Ilio, which I have been wanting to try since lucasai began singing its praises. I really like it. Smells like a beach scent to me, without having any traditional beachy notes. I think it is the prickly pear pad note, since prickly pears are common on the edge of the Jersey Shore (just the pads tho; I wish we got the flowers and fruit!) To me, the iris is a touch soapy, but otherwise translucent. Like a modern, hard candy version of Choward’s Violets. This would be great for when you want a summer floral, but not a tropical floral.
Drinking some random bags of black tea that found their way into my stash. Attempting to bake bread to have with tomatoes because we are out and it is too hot to go the store.
That is a really interesting review. I’ve got to look up those notes.
Thanks for this review!
Good luck with the ?.
Hats off to you for attempting a bread bake when it’s too hot to go out! We’re going to be brave and fire up the oven for a pizza tonight — it’s a bit on the warm side but about to get significantly worse so we’ll bake while we can!
Wow, I’m impressed that you tried baking bread today. How did it come out?
I wouldn’t serve it to Paul Hollywood, but I’ll eat it ?
Wowee in baking bread when it’s hot hot hot. I am doing a no bread August and week 2 I am going strong. I may just keep going until I find a good groove of menu planning incorporating bread. It’s not no carbs so there’s that.
Luckily, my oven doors seal well and don’t leak heat, despite being several decades old (I think the people who owned my house before me ate take out every night!), so baking doesn’t add heat to the house. I’m not sure I could do a no bread month, but it certainly couldn’t be August — I have tomato toast for at least two meals a day when the veggie garden is at its peak.
Hot, steamy, and currently raining, and I’m wearing Hermes Un Jardin Sur le Nil. We’ve got a couple more days here of hot and muggy, and then a cool-down right in time for the weekend. Yay!
Currently drinking: Harney White Vanilla Grapefruit.
Reading: Michael Pollan’s This Is Your Mind on Plants. And I need to get serious here, because it’s already overdue
You smell great! That scent is perfect for this weather.
I know hot and steamy can get tiresome, but it sounds *so nice* right now — at least the steamy part. August is about when I start to think, “Oh, California, why must you be so sere?”
“Sere”. Great vocabulary word! Having lived out West, I know exactly what that means.
I just tried that tea. It’s freaking delicious!
Good morning.
Sotd is Miss Dior Originale. If only they have this in edp, I would love it even more.
You smell amazing! Miss Dior is such a classic beauty.
Wearing TDC Sel de Vetiver for a warm day where I wish I were at the beach again. (Or, not “again” — as the beaches I was just on were pebbly and cold, so not really beachy as most people would think of it, but the water was salty.)
Finally got some furniture in place in our living area, so we can at least eat in the house again. Staring at all the appliances in the middle of the dining room, where they’ve been for two months, gets more depressing by the day, though. I tried to use the one working thing in the kitchen last night — the sink — only to realize that our interior designer is definitely a person who never cooks or does dishes. His first order of business was to demolish our u-shaped galley kitchen (every designer we talked to said the same thing). But when you put the sink and drying rack under upper cabinets, nothing fits on the drying rack. (I guess he thinks everything can go in the dishwasher…but most of the largest stuff can’t.) Little Ockeghem: “Well, you’re doing a reno. Just get it fixed.” Ha. If only it were that easy, kid. (I will now be shopping for a small table for the drying rack, to go under the window where there used to be open countertop.)
This was my impression of our new house – designed poorly for functional use. Poor use of space and things that don’t fit where they should. Cabinets too low to place a stand mixer on the kitchen counter under them, for example. Fancy microwave mounted so high I can’t see inside it and have to blindly reach over head and shove things in. Artistic curved walls which prevent mounting cabinets with full depth. Huge empty space under counter in bathroom where it seems they planned for a woman to sit in a chair and fluff her hair, rather than using the space for drawers and cabinets that are sorely lacking. All flash and no function.
Yes, we’ve all just been waiting for the bathroom that allows us to have a chair to fluff our hair!
(That said, that space would be perfect for a litter box.)
The funny thing is that this house was built decently to maximize space…interior designers just don’t seem to get it. The u-shaped galley, however anathema that apparently is for designers, maximizes counter space in a small kitchen. I’ve already had to talk the designer out of 25 ideas that just don’t work if you actually use your kitchen a lot. That said, at least he (usually) listens — the other designers we talked to were the “my way or the highway” type, who came in and disparaged our townhouse for being “so small” (1350 sq ft is decent in Vancouver?) and made it clear they’d only do the work because things were slow in early COVID.
You’ve got me worried about my stand mixer now, though. I’m going to have to pull it out of the box and see if it will fit.
Ha Ha Ha! Our house, which was built in 1927, has a lovely little vanity “desk” in the upstairs bath, with built-in tiny drawers and a large mirror. Needless to say, with two sons using that bathroom, the set up was totally silly. So, we do indeed use the space below for our cat litter box!
FWIW, I’ve got my stand mixer in one of those useless lower cabinets that’s just kind of an empty box (apartment renters might know what I’m talking about, since every one I’ve lived in seems to have one.) My H put in one of those sliding shelves, which makes it easy (or easier, anyway) to get in & out.
I know you are going through the wringer, cazaubon, but you killed me with this post. That empty space with the woman in the chair, ???.
My husband wants to put in one of those fancy microwaves, too. I could never reach it,either.
My mom was in assisted living for all of 10 days. When we were checking it out for furniture placement, mom had insisted that the microwave was too high. While it was a good height for me, I’m also 5 inches taller than her. We ended up buying a small countertop microwave.
In dumbest of dumb designs, our bedroom bathroom has almost no cabinet space, and one of the two places where there is storage has a door that can only open 6″ because it hits the toilet. But, that same bathroom has a shower the size of some bedrooms, with two showerheads that face each other. Water pressure issues aside, who wants to take a shower with someone else? I mean, if it is a errrrr romantic inclination, don’t you want to share the same shower? Not shower together, at the same time five feet apart. It is so stoopid.
Our master bath shower also has two shower heads facing each other. One has all the bells and whistles and one is just a shower head. I like to think the previous owners disagreed about what type of shower to get and ended up getting both.
I call those things « car wash showers ». Ridiculous use of space unless you are living in a mansion.
That stinks. I’m sorry the design is so impractical!
Kitchen layout is difficult. Our original proposed layout was quite obviously mocked up by a young man with no kitchen experience, but our cabinet person redesigned it perfectly. We put our crappy old microwave on a lower shelf inside a cabinet so it’s out of sight but very functional. Sounds like you are resourceful and will end up with something that works well. We bought one of those microfiber drying pads with plastic slots for plates. They work pretty well, so you might want to look at those, if you have space.
My motto has always been to not sacrifice function for form. It’s never necessary. Designers should understand that.
most important…you smell really nice.
Ha! My FIL just redid his kitchen, or I should say his partner redid his kitchen (said in-law doesn’t even make his own tea–so alien is a kitchen and cooking to him!). She is very status conscious, and like most people I meet who are such, what denotes status to her is subjective, based on her own obscure rules of engagement. Where is this rant going? Okay. So she absolutely refused to have a dish rack in the kitchen. In fact, her objection to “air drying” anything in the kitchen means that she insists absolutely everything be washed in the dishwasher. So, when I washed the thin plastic water bottles that fit holders on our bicycles, and laid them neatly out on a tea towel to dry, she noticed them after about 15 minutes. She stomped over and said “No, no. NO!” and promptly put them in the dishwasher, slammed it shut, and threw the tea towel into the laundry.
Sigh.
Bidons do not need to be washed in the dishwasher, I hand wash and air dry mine too. LOL on your snobby MIL.
? Wow, that was rude.
FWIW, a friend of mine had a space installed next to the dishwasher which is actually a drying rack so that you don’t have to look at the mess all the time. I love it! On the other hand, she’s got a huge old house which they’re renovating mostly themselves.
What did the space look like? Was it in a drawer? I’m not able to picture the space you mean—Oh. do you mean a storage space for the rack when it wasn’t in use? That’s interesting!
Basically, it looks like a built-in dishwasher, but with no front, and a slatted side for ventilation. It’s at one corner of the island and faces the stove, so it’s not visible to the room.
First, you smell fantastic!
Second, ugh about the kitchen designers. Are you close to an IKEA by any chance? Their kitchen designers are great at working with you, and are completely used to dealing with small spaces, galley kitchens, maximizing space, etc.
Third, my apartment is 1050 sq ft, and I think it’s HUGE. 1350 sounds like a good sized space to me, and those designers should have their credentials questioned for disparaging your amount of space.
Jo Malone Poppy & Barley
Jo Mos Peony Blush Suede..normally not a JM fan much but this one is nicer offer from them that jams with me I guess. Pretty floral..lasts quite I while.
I like this one too. I had a mini candle of it first, and kept thinking “I would like to smell like this” whenever I burned it, so I eventually got the cologne.
Up early to let in the service guys to power wash the back of my house–too much coffee, too early. Trying to perk up with Ineke’s Poet’s Jasmine, a lucky find from many years ago. With all this heat and humidity, this lemony jasmine just what I need. Stay cool my fragrant friends.
Love that one, you smell great!
Spending time in Noontide Petals today. Pity that this one was discontinued.
That was a great one indeed!
That’s too bad. That’s an excellent perfume.
Really, really loving my SotD today which is Chinatown.
Glad you are loving it!! It is too hot for me to even think about Chinatown today
Aromatics Elixir for a warm day with not much to do at work, besides being there.
I spent some time to practice my handwriting, because I rediscovered the joy of fountain pens and colored inks. This could be another costly hobby, so I just bought a moderately priced TWSBI eco pen and some inks, to make writing more fun.
Check out Sarah McCartney’s post on Instagram, if you have time. She is the creator of 4160Tuesdays and is a delightful, very funny perfumer who just posted about fountain ink.
The TWSBI Eco is a pretty terrific pen, although I will warn you that the resin it’s made of is prone to cracking — I have eight of them and two have small cracks in the barrel where the feed inserts, just enough to let a tiny bit of ink out and stain my fingers.
At least fountain-pen ink is relatively inexpensive! You can get one-ounce bottles of Diamine for a few bucks, so you can have a big library of ink for not a lot of money.
Be sure to practice your cursive Q, X and Z!
Fountain pens although no collection for me, thank goodness. My dad gave me a gold-nib fountain pen with a vacuum barrel ink reservoir.
P.S. Floragal’s Hump Day Giveaway (haha)
I purchased a 10ml travel-size spray of the new Madeleine Le Donne di Masque and it’s not what I had hoped. It’s a gourmand but something in it just doesn’t work for me, perhaps the tonka? Notes are: chestnut accord, chantilly accord, cumin, tuberose, cypress, geranium, tonka bean, milky musks and vanilla
Sillage is average but it does last a good long time on my skin.
Happy to ship (U.S. only) to someone who thinks they might enjoy this and their perfume budget is not what they’d like it to be right now, and so would appreciate a new perfume purchase
My email can be found by clicking on my gravatar.
I loved Madeleine sorry it didn’t work for you. What a kind generous offer!
Scared the living daylights out of my neighbor’s son (he is my neighbor too of course, is there a special word for this?) with my white belly in the sun, when he started a chat from his garden. I hope he coped well.
SOTD is Perris Monte Carlo Vanille de Tahiti. My fav vanilla that is even pleasant on a hot day!
? You blinded him with your belly?!
I sure did!! ?
LOL!
I could also blind someone with my belly. I am not a tanning person!
SOTD = Francesca Bianchi Sticky Fingers
Who wants to see what Alfred Hitchcock would have done with this theme? Me!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CScN_zSrmlx/?utm_medium=copy_link
It is stonking hot out there ? but glad it’s a WFH day for me. I went into the office yesterday and I survived wearing my mask all the way in and all the way back (3 hours+ RT). I refuse to wear my mask while in the office even if I am going to the pantry or the ladies room – I can absolutely social distance. If I get snagged, but I don’t think I will, there are others who don’t mask either unless they are leaving our immediate leased premises. Also, not that it ever really gets crowded but I was surprised that we are now having multiple people in an elevator car even though there are 7 elevators from which to choose to cover sparsely attended floors (5). ??♀️ Nevertheless, I am masked up since elevators are not exclusive to my company.
Cute photo and you smell great!
Thank you! Have you smelled the newest Luxe Calm Volupte?
I bought it blind, it’s sitting in my house in San Diego. Will report when I’ve sniffed it (along with Papillon Spell 125 which I also bought blind) LOL.
Stonking hot weather twins with you. I bet you also got a bunch of weather alerts earlier this evening.
Surprisingly, no. Listening to the radio this morning, they were talking about focused areas of thunderstorms or maybe just storms.
Liz Earle Botanical Essence No 9 today, a perfect fruity chypre, this line deserves more attention, No 1 is also a favorite and they are over 90% natural but last very well. This evening I changed to vintage Oscar.
I have such fond memories of Oscar de la Renta! You smell heavenly.
Thank you Anne, this is such a special perfume, so glad it elicits good memories for you.
You smell wonderful – another Oscar fan here. I love it on me, and my Mother was a fan too so it has a good association for me.
So glad you like it too, scent associations with our mothers are so precious.
The Liz Earle line was already headed for unicorn status when I fell down the perfumed rabbit hole back in 2009. I think I maybe saw it once in a department store.
It’s such a shame, those perfumes deserve a wide American audience, so affordable too.
I’ve been away last week visiting my parents, and swamped with work and post-trip laundry and cleaning this week. I’m very much looking forward to the weekend!
SOTD is Lost Cherry.
I’m with you on the laundry! I’m five loads in now. Hope you get through it all soon!
I was wondering where you were! I hope the visit was great!
Hi hajusuuri! My trip was really great, I always love to hang with my folks and their place is such a nice change of scenery for me.
Isn’t is weird how post-trip laundry seems to take twice as long to deal with as regular old laundry? Or is it just me?
SOTD: Sunshine Mimosa body wash & body spray- and will re-apply as needed on this hot day.
101F/38c !
People recieved alerts on their phones because it will be so hot. I watered my plants and hope they make it! Made hummus, garden cuke salad with yogurt and have plenty of hibiscus tea with ginger and sugar ready.
101! I’m sending you some virtual water for yourself!
You smell great! Body sprays are great for days like this.
Stay cool! The food you’ve prepped sounds perfect for hot weather.
This. And it sounds delicious.
I’m wearing Child today. Spent the morning deep cleaning the house to burn off nervous energy, so it’s clean but I’m tired. Snuggling the dog now.
So happy you have a puppy! I went from my beloved cat to my dog, too.
She’s actually three – the cat and the dog were buddies. So there’s a sad German Shepherd who needs extra snuggles.
Hugs for you and your dog.
Hey!
Fun day!
Hopping to the vet for boomerang doggy. Hoping there’s a miracle, like she will be given just a sling or something to help hold her. I know I’m desperate. She perks up at the vet and when she sees my friend, but the nights…
After that super awesome outing, I hit the dentist to get a cavity filled. Like most people, I am terrified.
SOTD: TBD. I liked some ones on here, but am worried about associations.
Oh no! Sending happy thoughts your way!
Thank you.
Yikes. That’s a rough day. Funny enough, I became more terrified at dentist the older and more experienced I got.
Yup. I’m the biggest baby.
Good luck with vet and dentist.
Thank you.
Sending you good vibes for your dog!
Thanks, sistine, she’s my 14 yr old puppy, ?
Oh, ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Sending more good vibes for pup and dentist!
Thanks, allo.
I hope all went well. Sending you and doggy hugs.
Thank you, we’ll take ’em.
❤️?❤️?
I hope both went well!
Thanks, both were a mixed bag.
Sending healing vibes to your lovely girl, Annie. I am keeping you both in my prayers all the time. Hugs! ?
Thank you, as always. My girl needs every prayer.
I hope everything went well with the doggy AND the dentist!!
Thanks. Big baby with the dentist.
Healing and calming vibes for you and your furry friend!
Thanks. I love her more than anything.
My dog. The vet is great and let me in. She lost a few pounds and is having trouble walking. At this point, it is too hard to tell if it is neurological or arthritis. I asked her for an honest opinion about how long and her response was not a very comforting one. As long as she’s eating, drinking and excited about things, we are OK for the immediate time. Love is hard.
And I did wear Amazing Gracie.
Dentist, poor thing, told me at the end he was freaking out. ? Everything that could go wrong, did. But, they are really nice and terribly worried about my awful teeth.
Mixed bag. Thanks for the hugs and goodness.
Ai yi yi! That’s plenty of stress for a single day. Hugs.
Sotd is Gelsomini di Capri, inspired by Rabbitsflower’s search for a new jasmine fragrance. And you smelled great in Rodin the other day!
I had a “reading too fast moment” with your SOTD and thought I saw Geronimo di Capri. ?? Derp!
Geronimo would be a great name for a perfume!
Reading this days late, but thanks! I don’t think I’ve tried that Gelsomini. Is that Acqua di Parma?
Wearing Equestrian. A nod to that under appreciated Hitchcock film Marnie and the title character’s love for her beloved Forio. A challenging movie because neither of the main characters is overly sympathetic.
A somewhat challenging scent for me because of the grass and hay. I might be a bit allergic.
Those were some strong storms that blasted through our area last night. Loud thunder and torrential rain on and off all evening until I went to bed. More possible later today. I feel bad for all the tent campers up here. Not sure how they avoided floating away. And it’s the highest humidity we’ve had. Should break within next couple of days, thankfully.
Gosh, have not seen Marnie in eons. I should watch again.
Popping in to say hello! Once again, I’ve got a few days of NST to catch up on. I’m wearing a bit of orange today, so an orange perfume is appropriate. I’ve decided on Alien Eau Luminescente, the mandarin one in the orange bottle from a good few years ago.
Good to see you here. I had never heard of that Alien flanker.
I missed out on that one, but heard good things about it.
We’re in for a 3-day stretch of weather misery: average highs of 95F, with heat index at 105. ?
What scent/note could possibly help? What would you wear?
An icy iris? Hiris?
That would be good if I had any. ? Went with Berdous Assam of India, since it was in front. Working out ok.
Dry incense is a favorite of mine in hot sticky weather. YMMV.
Second!
I meant, thanks! Thought this was posted in another place. ? I forgot about how much I like 10 Corso Como when it’s hot.
Hot and sticky in the banana belt of Virginia today. No break in sight until the weekend. Wearing SJP Stash today, a little dab of oil at the pulse points and one squirt of the perfume in the hair. Surprisingly light and lovely in the heat.
That would seem to apply to the entire state ;| so I’m not sure where you’re referring to, but Hi Neighbor nonetheless :p (see below)
You smell wonderful – Stash is fun!
Hello, all. I’ve been AWOL for a while, but it looks like the same cast of characters here, which is heartening.
We moved to the Hampton Roads VA area last fall and I’ve been in a perfume slump since then. I am reticent to try most anything new due to a reaction to some commonly used aroma chemicals. Along with that, I can no longer wear most (almost all) of my vintage bottles for similar reasons. (Not allergies, just weird olfactory mis-firings so things smell wrong. And bad.)
I feel like I must have the right perfume somewhere in my collection, but can rarely put my finger quite on it. And since it’s been Real Feel 100+ since May or June I am snored out by all my summer lightweights.
This morning, I thought I’d just put my hand in my perfume drawer & spray whatever I pulled out, which turned out to be YSL Cinema, which I actually quite enjoyed.
So to get to the point, any suggestions for favorite Non-Summer perfumes for summer?
Hope you’re all well and have been able to get back to some sense of normal. As of Monday, it’s finally possible to visit my sister and her children in Canada (under somewhat reasonable circumstances) but the flights to Ottawa are ridiculous right now. I’m sure I’m not the only one still facing challenges seeing family. *sigh*
Glad to see you back, kpaint! Do Atelier Colognes work for you? If they do, my suggestion is Cedrat Enivrant.
Thank you!
Generally, they don’t, but for different reasons. I find the citrusy ones to be too heavy and loaded down with spices
I do wear Vetiver Fatal in the summer, though, which I like very much.
Maybe I need to expand my vetiver options ?
Hey kpaint!! Do you know which aroma chemicals are bothering you?
I don’t, but it/they show up in both perfumes and functionals. I’m assuming it’s newer, as it only started to become a problem with more recent releases (2015+, maybe?). It/they are particularly prevalent in niche, though it’s used by more mainstream houses as well. I thought about contacting Andy Tauer about it, as I’ve only run across it in Incense Rose amongst everything of his that I’ve tried (across both lines and the oils.)
But would it help to know? IDK. Or are you thinking along other lines?
Well, it would help some. If you knew it was ambrox, say, or iso e super, or cashmeran, etc, it would help you to avoid perfumes with those molecules. They’re not always listed in the notes, of course, and sometimes you’ll see things like “blond woods” or “amber” instead of the molecule name, but sometimes reviewers mention them too.
But concentration probably matters too, and those are very widely used chemicals and might only bother you in larger concentrations. Could be that your only easy fix is to switch to naturals, but that has its own problems.
Nice to see you in any case, and hope you are enjoying your new home!
Oh! Thanks for the insight. It hadn’t occurred to me that whatever it is, it might have an easily recognizable name. (I think of aroma chemicals as being identified by letters and numbers, I guess.)
Up until a couple of years ago I was pretty vigilant about keeping a spreadsheet of everything I tested, including published notes. I probably have enough data to do some cross-checking.
I have thought about the naturals route, which is depressing. That said, I’ve got more than my lifetime’s worth of perfume on hand that I can still wear, so there’s that
I saw your posts about your sisters now living within driving distance. What a nice change that must be for all of you! I have only 1 sibling and we haven’t lived within the same state or country since I was 15 or so. We at least now live within a reasonable flying distance (and airfare price) which has made a huge difference in frequency of visits (until, of course, the latest events.)
Well, it might be interesting for you to list some of the ones that bother you, maybe on a weekend open thread, and see if anybody can figure out what they have in common? We will have an open thread this Saturday, it’s worth a shot!
My sister will be in VA, at least during the school year, for the next 4 years while her son finishes high school. Yes, it will be really nice! A few years ago she was in VA for 1 year but that flew by really fast. It is extra nice now because it was just worrisome to have her overseas, in areas with less than stellar health care, during covid.
So sorry it is still hard for you to see *your* sister. By “ridiculous” I assume you mean the flight costs are crazy…so hope that gets better soon.
So sorry about the olfactory disfunction.
It’s been 100F for three months? ?
My apologies for complaining about three days. Yikes!
Complain away! Nobody loves a miserable heat wave.
Hiya kpaint!
Hiya back! Good to see you!
So nice to see you again! But what a drag about your olfactory struggles.
Likewise!
Hi kpaint! I think you must’ve gone awol before I joined this crew earlier this year!
Sorry to hear about your challenges with aroma chemicals! It must be so frustrating for a fragrance lover. I’ve also been seeking out non-summer summer scents, because most freshies end up sour or flat on my skin. I find that light incense scents have been great for me this summer.
Which light incense scents do you like? Sour and flat is no fun
Sandalwood sometimes works for me in the heat.
Sorry to hear you’re having a tough time with your perfumes. I like to use light cooling incense perfumes in summer when I get bored of the usual: Dzongkha, Timbuktu, SL L’Eau Froide, Olivier Durbano Heliotrope, Cire Trudon Mortel. Some dry irises are good too: L’Attesa, Hiris, Iris Cendré, Bruma. 4160 Tuesdays has a few good ones too: Rosa Ribes, Both Sides of Clouds, Tokyo Spring Blossom, Fluffy Lemon Top, Red Queen.
Thanks for all the recommendations. I did dip a toe into incense last summer, but it’s a genre that’s somewhat alien to me as I don’t really have any cultural/life reference points. I ransacked my collection earlier in the summer for cooler irises, but almost all of mine are of the warm/cozy variety. I will look into these – at the very least, I know I’ve got some Timbuktu around here somewhere…
Fluffy Lemon Top sounds delicious!
I seem to be on an iris theme this week; wearing Montale So Iris Intense. It’s playing nicely today.
Has anyone heard from johanob? I know he’s a fan of many Montale scents; thought of him today when I sprayed on my sotd.
I see an occasional IG post but comments don’t get recorded and DMs bounce back ??♀️
Thanks h! I hope he’s doing well.
I was just thinking of him today too!
Great minds! I love seeing his posts.
I think he posted a week or two ago? Covid situation is bad in South Africa, I imagine things are very stressful right now.
SotD = Hiris
ahhhhh, Hiris, I love you so.
Another perfume I wear and think, “I should wear this every day.” Then I laugh at myself for being forever distracted by the other lovelies in the perfume cupboard.
I have a second full bottle of Hiris (it’s the newer transparent bottle, not the blue glass bottle) that needs a new home. If anyone who posts here at least once in a while (and can receive a package in the US) would like to swap an unloved Guerlain or Hermes bottle, please send me a note via gmail, where I go by tiffanie darling (no space before the darling).
Kitchen renovations indeed! Bath, too, here. No nook for a litter box, but I requested a 36″ high vanity because I’m tall and the regular height one has me bent more than 90 degrees at the waist to wash my face.
I’m wearing Zoologist Hyrax, smells good in heat/humidity as long as I don’t go overboard with application.
I’m 5’10” and have always wondered if a kitchen designed for a tall person might make cooking a little less painful. Admittedly, I’m not entirely sure how it would be designed ( higher counters? lower?)
I envy your vanity and am sure you will appreciate how excruciating it is to use the Junior size (really, that’s what it’s called – they’re for preschools) toilet whose seat comes in at 15″ and bathroom counter that hits at 31″. Neither great for tallies or seniors (I’m not the latter but feel like one.)
I started PT this spring and came to realize the back pain I was having was due largely to my freaking bathroom ?
My toilet is also at 15″ and the present vanity is 30″. Even 45 years ago when this building was built I think these were low.
I knew a couple who redid their kitchen, etc. to make the counters higher. She was 6’1” and he was 6’5”. Their twin sons are also well over 6’. I think they listened to a surgeon talk about how she was able to stand in surgery so long…a lot was having the table at the right height.
In our new place they did the counters…kitchen and bath…at 36”. Definitely feels higher than our old bath. I’m 5’6”, and that height is comfortable for me.
Foxbins, you may very well smell wonderful! I find that on me, “heavy” scents are very fun in hot weather. I never got around to a SotD today, but will run look for my little Hyrax sample! One thought on counter height: if you don’t bend more than 90 degrees, *water runs down your arms* when washing your face, a peeve of mine, LOL!!!
Yes, I was going to mention this too – I’m so short I constantly have water and toothpaste running down my arms when washing at the sink. I’ve considered putting a stool in front of the sink to alleviate the problem. Never mind feet barely touching the floor on the toilet! I understand they make riser boxes for that purpose but I’ve never seen them.
I have the opposite problem — at 5’1″ all counters are too high for me. It’s incredible how ergonomic kitchen prep becomes if I put on high clogs! It’s like, Oh! This is the way the built environment is supposed to feel!
Posting late today. The summer muggies are in full force here today. The cats were enjoying part of this afternoon in the sunny bay window, but even they have their limits.
SOTD = Atelier Cologne Emeraude Agar, from the sample stash. I’m getting a hint of gasoline there, like the one I sometimes get from Mitsouko. Road trip, anyone?
Maybe that’s why I don’t get along much with Mitsouko. I hate the smell of gasoline.
I don’t mind the gasoline smell. Roofing tar, OTOH, is smelly and not in a good way!
Have to go smell Mitsouko again; I don’t remember gasoline in that one. Do you have the edt or edp? I have the edt.
I hope the kitties are coping with the heat! And that Teflon Kitty recovered from yesterday. ??
I have samples of both EdT and EdP for Mitsouko. I don’t get gasoline all the time, though. It’s definitely hit or miss.
Teflon kitty’s vet appointment isn’t until Friday. She’s the hardest cat to wrangle! I’d better wear long sleeves for that task.
I would love a road trip.
Want to drive out to California and end in Monterey?
I haven’t ever been to Boston, despite it being only a few hours away. Not quite sure what I am waiting for.
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been in CA. Not sure I ever made it out to Monterey. I vaguely remember bits and pieces of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.
https://youtu.be/FvLjJE7Bt88
Song time.
You’ll have to end in Sonoma and come visit!
If I do a road trip, it would be to Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts.
I wasn’t able to post yesterday but wore Angel Muse. Today I am in Grand Bal by Dior. One more wearing and it will be thunked! Many years ago, I was gifted this decant from Flopper. I hope she is well.
I remember Flopper! I wonder where she went.
In January 2020, she said she was going to take a year off of social media. I was hoping she would return this year.
Angel Muse is what I would consider one of your “signatures” if you were ever to have any.
I do love it. I would put it in the top 10 of my collection.
You smell great!